More Than a Man, by Smith & Dragoman A song about the Martyrdom of The Báb, remembered at noon on July 9th... Early in the morning of July 8th 1850, The Báb and his companions were led through the streets of Tabriz, Persia, in chains. A crowd massed around them, hurling insults and stones at their faces, as they were taken to the barracks. A Bábi called Mirza Muhammad-’Ali Anis burst through the crowd and begged the Báb that he may be martyred with Him. The Báb told him to , “Arise, and rest assured that you will be with Me. Tomorrow you shall witness what God has decreed.” The next morning a guard interrupted The Báb who was giving final instructions to His close companion, Siyyid Husayn. The Báb replied, “Not until I have said to him all those things that I wish to say can any earthly power silence Me. Though all the world be armed against Me, yet shall it be powerless to deter Me from fulfilling, to the last word, My intention.” The prison officer separated the two nonetheless. The task of execution was given to a Christian colonel from Armenia, Sám Khan, who did not share the Persian government’s hostility for The Báb. The reverence of The Báb led him to be reluctant that he might be killing a holy man, but The Báb reportedly told him: “Follow your instructions, and if your intention be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you of your perplexity.” Sám Khan instructed his regiment as planned. At around noon The Báb and Mirza Muhammad-’Ali Anis were hung by their arms from ropes attached to the wall of the barracks. Before them was a firing squad of 750 guns, split into three groups. The roofs of the barracks and nearby houses were crowded with around 10,000 onlookers. Each of the three groups of 250 guns fired in turn. The smoke was so dense that only after the air had cleared did the spectators see that there was no sign of The Báb – He had apparently disappeared. His companion, meanwhile, was standing alone and unhurt with his ropes cut. The crowd went into uproar. The military officers frantically searched for The Báb, and found Him finishing His conversation with Siyyid Husayn in the same room where He had been interrupted earlier that day. The Báb informed the guard: “I have finished My conversation with Siyyid Husayn. Now you may proceed to fulfil your intention.” Dumbfounded, the guard walked out and immediately resigned his job, while Sám Khan ordered his men to leave the barracks and refused to have any further part in the affair. But another colonel volunteered his own regiment as a replacement and The Báb and His companion were again suspended from the barracks wall. The Báb’s last words were these: “Had you believed in Me, O wayward generation, every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and willingly would have sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognised Me; that day I shall have ceased to be with you.” 750 guns were again fired, and this time their bullets riddled the two bodies until they had become a single mass of flesh and bone. At that same moment a violent gale rose over the city and a dust whirlwind darkened the sky from that noon until night-time.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 21:23:06 +0000
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